NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

While I drowned myself from my thoughts, a notification appeared at my fore. That blaring, ridiculous sound echoed in my ears and disrupted my thoughts. As I read the title out loud on my upper right, Alice's name had popped up before me. 

"A letter from Alice?!" I yelled, and hurriedly opened it up.

My hands quivered when I pressed the buttons, since it came from our enemy. Even Ryoshi felt the same pressure as I did as he profusely rained his sweat beside my face. I didn't mind the rain, considering that my focus went towards this letter.

"What does it say?" Ryoshi asked, while leaning his head near me.

"I know you'll be alive even after that. I need more ways to kill you than an explosion that big…. Fenrir."

Alice knew we were formidable foes inside this game. She can never kill us with fair means. So she kept using some cheap tricks to catch us off guard. But even with those dirty tactics, she failed her latest plan. Ryoshi and I were still alive despite all that had happened. We lost no one but the two allies we trusted with our lives.

But I still doubted that Red would leave us alone and save herself…. Although she could have done that, Alice must have said something to them. She would never do something without proper reasons, especially if it involved Match.

"What do you propose to do right now, Okami?" Ryoshi asked, as he retracted his bow to his inventory. "It doesn't seem like we have to chase those two. We don't know where the hell they're going. I mean, yeah, Red is completing the Easter eggs. But we probably won't make it."

" It seems we have nowhere else to go but hide and regroup with our NPC allies. I can smell a war against NPCs and those soldiers. If I were inside Asimov's head, I would've done the same thing too," I described, and retracted to my original form. "We better move out if we still want to have a chance to live, Ryoshi. I swear, those soldiers won't stop until they kill us."

Since we knew the hideout of Kouran, the two of us immediately left Wonderland. We proceeded with our plans and trod our way towards the base near the Mainland terrain. The first death game battle took place in that area, which was the perfect place for us to hide.

I could only pray that the soldiers won't survey the scenes, or else we would have to fight them without any preparations.

Our trip took a few hours before we could arrive in the forest. Ryoshi and I made sure that we took our breaks and ate some rabbits along the way. And as soon as we arrived at that place, a notification emerged on my screen.

But we read that message far too late when we set our foot on the battlefield. 

Hundreds of NPCs had collapsed at the terrain, all freshly beaten into a pulp. These corpses usually would become pixelated dust after a few seconds. Although these non-player characters could produce blood like real people, they would still disappear after a few seconds. 

"This just means that there's a fight that happened here. Ryoshi, scan the area and look for some clues about this fight. There should be some soldiers around here that we could take out and interrogate. Just kee me posted in the chat box, okay?"

After saying those words, Ryoshi gave me a salute and went to the highest bough from a tree. Since he was a hunter, he had better eyesight than me. Although that fact was far from the truth in our real life situation.

I took the low ground and studied the corpses, searching for whatever I could learn from them. It turned out that these NPCs belonged to a different group, and not from our company. But it was still a shame that these non-player characters died a wasteful death instead of fighting for a cause.

[I think these NPCs are not from our team.]

[.....]

[They're just survivors from the Mainland massacre.]

[...]

[ Anyway, keep looking for anything….]

I sent those messages to Ryoshi and eventually continued my exploration. But before I could touch the dead body, Ryoshi replied from my chat.

[.....]

[Hide.]

Without doubting my friend, I used my [Wolf Form] and hid above a tree. I made sure that I planted myself at a place where nobody would notice, not even Ryoshi. Fortunately, I perfected that idea and remained silent for the rest of the time.

Ryoshi's warnings hit the nail as a few soldiers emerged near the bushes. Four players patrolled the place, looking for anything they could find.

"Are your sources true? We've been here for thirty minutes, goddammit! And we still haven't seen anything at all!" 

"Well, yell that to the higher-ups. I told them we already killed the NPCs. But that Clement guy insisted we search the area."

"Talk about being a wreckless leader."

"Man, you'll get us in trouble if that bastard hears us! Keep your mouth shut and just run along with the group."

"You called him a bastard, you bastard!"

Those were the words these soldiers exclaimed as they searched around the area. They double checked the corpses and fired a few bullets at the already dead bodies. Since those bullets cost nothing in this world but their arcane, the soldiers relentlessly fired their shells at those NPCs.

I grunted in disgust as I watched the entire scene unfold before my eyes. These psychopaths had nothing to do but insult the NPCs, let alone the dead. Those soldiers must have thought that these NPCs didn't have an actual life compared to their privileged lives. 

But that thought made the players more inhuman than these NPCs.

"What do you plan to do, Okami?" Ryoshi asked, as he readied his bow on the other side. "I'm ready to shoot at any time. Just give me the orders….And, Okami? We're not killing them, right?"

"Negative, Ryoshi. We don't want to kill anyone without any reason. And you could fire them anytime that you want. I will back you up when that happens," I answered, while transforming into my first form. 

I didn't have to overwork myself while fighting these thugs. Red would be a better enemy than an army of these idiots around.

Within a few seconds, an arrow flew right over a soldier's shoulder. That soldier moaned and fell on the ground, while caressing his right arm. But before that soldier could even command his team, I swung into action and slammed one against the tree. That plant I used to hide myself vibrated, forcing some branches to fall over the guy's head. Those boughs hit him and rendered him immobile and sent the man to his dream world.

The soldier who noticed me tried attacking my back, but Ryoshi's arrow came to my rescue. That bolt hit the player's hands, forcing the girl to let go of her weapon. When I turned around, my kick came greeting the girl's face. And that kick also sent her to the merry land.

The man who got shot on the shoulder tried reaching out for his gun. But I swept it to the other side before he could even grab it in his hands. That bloke glared into my eyes and opened his quivering mouth.

"You! I know you! You're Wolf who's also Fenrir! You killed an entire army! You fucking player killer!" the soldier roared, and spit at me. 

However, I was quick enough to dodge his saliva while maintaining my gaze at him. "Those soldiers tried to kill me first….They even used underhand tactics to get rid of me when I didn't do anything wrong! Wait, why am I even explaining myself to you. You're just nothing but a pawn to whoever you're working with." 

"Come on, you bastard! Kill me! If you think I will talk and tell everything to you, that's where you're wrong! I'd rather die than-...."

Before the soldier could even finish his rant, I sliced his arm into pieces. It didn't even take me a few seconds before cutting off the guy's entire right arm, since he knelt in front of me. I dealt an astronomical damage, since his limb would only regrow if he has a potion. Lucky for him, I always carried a few before fighting something or someone.

But unfortunately for the soldier, he could still die from blood loss. It was the game's feature, which was the major complaint of players.

"You know that blood loss will kill you unless you drink some potion?  And I'm not talking about the random junk sold in the market. I'm talking about the elve's potions that you fools cannot replicate," I mocked the soldier, while waving the potion in my hands. "I don't care if you die. It doesn't matter if I became a demon who kills people inside this game. Because if I don't kill you, you people will kill me behind my back. And I vowed to avoid killing trash like you."

"Now, which would it be? You dying a miserable death, or living your life, together with your friends, hmm?"